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In a shareholder letter released on Wednesday, Cirrus Logic, one of Apple’s suppliers, hinted that the iPhone 15 Pro might not feature solid-state buttons. The letter suggests that a previously discussed HPMS component slated for release this fall will no longer be brought to the market as planned.
The letter also states that Cirrus Logic has limited visibility into its customers’ plans for this product, and as a result, the revenue associated with this component will be removed from the company’s internal model.
Cirrus Logic’s high-performance, mixed-signal (HPMS) segment includes haptic drivers for the Taptic Engine in iPhones. According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPhone 15 Pro models would have been equipped with two additional Taptic Engines that provided haptic feedback when the solid-state buttons were pressed, and Cirrus Logic hinted that it would have supplied related components for the devices in a previous shareholder letter.
However, with the recent announcement from Cirrus Logic, it appears that the iPhone 15 Pro models might not feature solid-state buttons after all. Barclays analysts Blayne Curtis and Tom O’Malley noted that the supplier’s comments were likely to rule out solid-state buttons in their investor note today. Meanwhile, rumors suggest that the Ring/Silent switch will still be replaced with a button as previously claimed, and this button could be customizable like the Action button on the Apple Watch Ultra.
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Apple is Cirrus Logic’s largest customer and accounted for 79% of its revenue in the 2022 fiscal year. Apple analyst Jeff Pu believes the solid-state buttons will likely be pushed back to iPhone 16 Pro models launching next year, but Cirrus Logic’s comments today suggest it has limited knowledge of Apple’s future plans at this time.
